M81 & M82 in HaRGB (Orestis Pavlou)

Celestial hemisphere: Northern · Constellation: Ursa Major (UMa) · Contains: Bode's Galaxy · Cigar Galaxy · M 81 · M 82 · NGC 3031 · NGC 3034

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M81 & M82 in HaRGB

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M81 & M82 in HaRGB

M81 & M82 in HaRGB

A pair of galaxies in a gravitational dance

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M81 (top-right) and M82 (lower-left) are a pair of spiral galaxies 12 million light years away from us.

The two galaxies interacted about 300 million years ago, coming closer to each other under the force of gravity, triggering an increased rate of star formation.

M81 or "Bode's galaxy" is a 'grand design' spiral galaxy viewed almost face-on, which contains around 250 billion stars. The red/pink areas in M81 are emission nebulae in the spiral arms of the galaxy, areas of active star formation, captured using an H-alpha filter.

M82 or "Cigar galaxy" is a starburst galaxy viewed edge-on, which was classified as 'irregular' until near-infrared images in 2005 showed a pair of spiral arms inside it. The red emission above and below the galactic plane is massive amounts of gas and dust being blown out of the core of the galaxy - a result of the interaction with M81 and the sudden burst of intense star formation near the core.

I have to admit, I expected a bit more from 17 hours of imaging on this target, but I guess there are hard limits to imaging faint targets with a colour camera from a Bortle 7 city sky (with LED lights around you)...

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Total imaging time: 24 hours (17 hours in colour + 7 hours in H-alpha)

Telescope: Sky-Watcher Evostar ED100 Black Diamond

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro

Mount: AZ-EQ6 Pro

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Description: Minor color and noise adjustments

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Suburban Astrophotography
Imaged with APT
ZWO ASI 294MC PRO

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Astrometry.net job	3546136
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M81 & M82 in HaRGB

M81 & M82 in HaRGB

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M81 & M82 in HaRGB

M81 & M82 in HaRGB

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